Poll: Facebook use

[braumeister]

I've avoided Facebook so far, but I'm increasingly feeling left out of many of my social networks. Am I really as much of a dinosaur as I'm starting to think I am?

Is everyone really using FB, or is it still just a subset?

 

[heeyy_joe]

Not a fan.

 

[steelyman]

This place is enough for me. I don't get bothered and the moderators are my blocking backs.

http://youtu.be/F9y_KZwOq9g

 

[HFWR]

None of the above. Use it, and check in fairly regularly, but use it differently from most folks.

 

[FIREd]

I am on Facebook, but I am not an active user. My wife, on the other hand, is an avid user and she "tags" me all the time. Hence my wall gets populated even though I never post anything (I call DW my "social secretary"). Works for me. I was able to reconnect with old friends thanks to FB, and that's pretty much why I maintain a presence there.

 

[6miths]

I would say that my choice isn't really there either. My kids signed me up and I use it regularly for many different things. I wish that we had had when we were overseas and away from the extended family from 2001-2004.

 

[W2R]

I only use Facebook to communicate with my daughter and find out what is going on in her life. She posts everything to Facebook every day, and has "friended" all of her friends. It is a great way to keep in touch with her and with whatever happens to be really important in her life at the moment.

My Facebook profile is locked up as tight as Fort Knox, to the best of my ability. At any rate, it has no information about me at all. Also I don't add other "friends", even other relatives and not even Frank. He uses Facebook the same way I do, in his case to communicate with his sisters.

I go to Facebook every day, although I don't really do anything there but read my daughter's entries and sometimes comment on them.

 

[travelover]

Like.

 

[Mulligan]

I have never been on it. My circle of friends all communicate enough by texting and emails almost daily, so it is not needed. I do no think they use it either. Though everyone's wife's including my GF, also seem to enjoy being on it all the time.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[samclem]

Not a user. I suppose it might help me renew contact with various old friends and co-workers, but what would I really have in common with them at this point? My days are already full of things I'd like to do, and that doesn't include keeping in touch with a thousand people via electronic means.
I guess if I enjoyed the annual 5 page Christmas newsletters some families send out, I'd probably enjoy Facebook.

 

[Major Tom]

This poll won't let me vote for some reason, though as soon as I'm able, I will vote "Avid User". I took a month-long hiatus from FB recently, as I was getting fed-up with it. I didn't miss it, but went back on just once and have stayed on since then.

I am a fairly open book on Facebook. Haven't yet been able to find a reason not to be.

 

[REWahoo]

None of the above.

I'd describe myself as a reluctant and very light user. I'm a member so I don't loose contact with [-]reality[/-] friends and family.

 

[Sarah in SC]

I've avoided Facebook so far, but I'm increasingly feeling left out of many of my social networks. Am I really as much of a dinosaur as I'm starting to think I am?

Is everyone really using FB, or is it still just a subset?

You are missing out on a great way to keep up with the folks you choose to keep up with! Get a friend who is a regular user to help you set it up with the proper privacy settings and restrictions, then use it as your own interests dictate. It is a tool not a cult.

 

[Marita40]

I signed up to see a few people's sites, but there's nothing on my page and I only check in perhaps once a month. Just not interesting to me. I understand from many of the college kids I teach that it is pretty passe these days.

 

[aja8888]

Occasional user. Post infrequently. Just go there to see what friends and family are up to and also for the laughs.

 

[Live Free]

I used to visit a particular bulletin board site (like this one) daily for many years. A core group of us became friends (visit each other IRL) and we moved the whole thing to FB and it has worked great.

I use FB for my regular group but also because I have a large family that has scattered all over and it allows us all to share our lives, pics of the kids, major life events, etc. The wonderfulness of this cannot be overstated.

Lots of community sites are now on FB. Our HOA has moved to FB, our kids local sports teams, boyscout troop, school, etc. It has become a primary communication mechanism for all kinds of groups we belong to.

The downside of FB:
- The wacky uncle who posts 30 times a day various political propaganda or rants. "Wake up sheeple!!" (Fortunately, FB has a "hide" button which comes in handy!)
- The old flame boyfriend/cyber stalker who repeatedly sends unwanted messages/friend requests
- Ever-evolving privacy settings. Honestly, there are 4 million privacy settings you need to navigate in FB. OK, maybe I exaggerate. Maybe others don't care who/what/why/where sees their FB page, but if you do - good luck adjusting all the settings - friends only, friends of friends, public groups, secret groups, family, public, tags, notifications, etc...jeesh!)
- All the Candy Crush gamers who post weird game-related invites onto your newsfeed (again, fortunately you can hide those posts, too)
- The friends who post a pic of every single meal they eat in a day, every walk they take, every trip to gym, what color shoes they are wearing with their outfit, etc. Oversharing each moment of their day.
- The friends that share daily motivational or philosophical sayings or prayers.

Needless to say, while I use FB daily, I have invested some time in fine-tuning all my settings to block lots of stuff from my newsfeed and my life. Even then, I recently posted a pic of an event that happened many years ago, and was surprised how many people "liked" the pic - and I am not "friends" with them and do not know them (friends of friends of friends??)

 

[MichaelB]

FB for family only, it helps us keep in touch with the kids and their kids. DW canceled her account so she secretly uses mine. I'd use it more often but it mostly seems to attract people from my work past.

 

[Lakedog]

Not a user. I suppose it might help me renew contact with various old friends and co-workers, but what would I really have in common with them at this point? My days are already full of things I'd like to do, and that doesn't include keeping in touch with a thousand people via electronic means.
I guess if I enjoyed the annual 5 page Christmas newsletters some families send out, I'd probably enjoy Facebook.

+1
Just don't see the benefit. If friends have anything important to share, they have my cell # and email address.

 

[scrabbler1]

I tried it for about a week several years ago. I said, "This is stupid" and deleted my account although I had not posted anything or completed a profile. I have absolutely zero interest in it.

 

[RE2Boys]

Went on a couple of times. Have grown to completely ignore it, very little relevant information, rather spend my time here. Got my email set to automatically send anything from facebook into the trash.

 

[Willers]

I am on Facebook, but I am not an active user. My wife, on the other hand, is an avid user and she "tags" me all the time. Hence my wall gets populated even though I never post anything (I call DW my "social secretary"). Works for me. I was able to reconnect to old friends thanks to FB, and that's pretty much why I maintain a presence there.

+1 Exactly as it is for me. Works great.

 

[HFWR]

The downside of FB:
- The wacky uncle who posts 30 times a day various political propaganda or rants. "Wake up sheeple!!" (Fortunately, FB has a "hide" button which comes in handy!)

Have both friends and family who do this. I ignore... Would be easier to tolerate if some of the posts indicated some thoughtfulness. Instead it's a regurgitation of some website or FB post that matches their preconceived notions. Total lack of BS filter, and an apparent lack of a search engine...

- The old flame boyfriend/cyber stalker who repeatedly sends unwanted messages/friend requests

I ignore...

- Ever-evolving privacy settings. Honestly, there are 4 million privacy settings you need to navigate in FB. OK, maybe I exaggerate. Maybe others don't care who/what/why/where sees their FB page, but if you do - good luck adjusting all the settings - friends only, friends of friends, public groups, secret groups, family, public, tags, notifications, etc...jeesh!)

Friends only, rarely post locations or tag anyone.

- All the Candy Crush gamers who post weird game-related invites onto your newsfeed (again, fortunately you can hide those posts, too)

All game requests are blocked.

- The friends who post a pic of every single meal they eat in a day, every walk they take, every trip to gym, what color shoes they are wearing with their outfit, etc. Oversharing each moment of their day.

A lot of this, mostly from family members. I ignore to keep the peace...

- The friends that share daily motivational or philosophical sayings or prayers.

A lot of this. I ignore to keep the peace...

I could probably hide a large number of friends, and not miss a thing. I don't because of the rare times they post something humorous or interesting. The ratio is not favorable, though...

 

[nash031]

I am somewhere between an avid user and disengaged. I post and/or tweet on average once a day, and most of them have to do with triathlon racing or training, or my sports teams. I promote my blog via social media, and am required by my sponsors/team to "maintain an active, positive presence weekly on social media." Otherwise, I might never post.

- I have location services turned off for everything.
- I do not post real-time pictures.
- I do not "check-in" at locations.
- I do not post motivational or political items, though I do respond to some of my friends political stuff on occasion.
- All of my privacy settings are on "Friends only."
- I routinely parse through and pare down my friends list with the "you post too much inane BS" being the most common reason someone gets removed.
- I respond strongly to exes who contact me. As in: "Why are you writing me?" I find that keeps them away (going on three years now since last unwanted ex- contact!).
- I block game and app requests.
- I do not allow other apps (Strava, Amazon, etc.) to post to FB. I do have my Twitter linked to FB so I only have to post things once.
- I only use the "Log in with FB" feature for other social media such as Strava.

 

[F4mandolin]

Very moderate user. Check it every day. Have blocked many family members for the same reasons mentioned earlier. I really don't need to be posted that there is a full moon tonight......or that they had spaghetti for dinner..... The ones that are left are people who post within reason and usually on topics of some interest. Facebook makes you feel bad if you don't agree to a new friend.....really irks me. I'm old enough (grouchy) now that being irked is enough for me to block them. I can't imagine having hundreds of friends who all post regularly...... Now Skype I need. Family on both sides of the Atlantic.

 

[razztazz]

None of the above. Use it, and check in fairly regularly, but use it differently from most folks.

None of the above here also. I don't LIKE Facebook. I don't CARE ABOUT Facebook. I am viscerally ANTI-FACEBOOK, but so many other people I know let the world in on what's going on by posting it on Facebook. People think email is quaint and olde fashioned nowadays for telling people things.

So, while I don't really DO anything with it and never actually post anything on it, I do have an account and I do check it because the world is changing and I have little choice.